It has almost become a rite of passage in our culture for a child to learn to tie his or her own shoes. This learning process is usually slow and frustrating for both the child and the adult. Shoelace tying once again becomes a challenge as we get older and arthritis or other maladies make, manipulating the laces almost impossible, or inflexibility makes reaching or sustaining a position at our feet difficult. For many of the handicapped, it is a lifelong chore. Ultimately, there are many people who have problems tying their shoes and many hours are wasted on this task.
Over the years many people have tried to solve this enduring problem. There are sneakers with hook and loop fasteners, otherwise known as Velcro.TM.. These sneakers have a strap with the hook fastener on one end and the loop fastener on the other end. One end of the strap is attached to one side of the shoe, run through an opening on the opposite side of the shoe, and folded back to attached onto itself. If fit properly, fasteners of this type provide a firm fit, but tend to look bulky and unkempt. Additionally, people's feet are many different shapes, and these fasteners are limited in usefulness to feet which are in the middle or average range of foot shapes. In cases where the user has a high arch, the strap may not be long enough to properly secure the shoe. If the user has an exceptionally high arch, the loop portion of the fastener will try to engage itself instead of the hook portion, thereby providing no securing at all. If the user has a low arch, the shoe would once again not be properly secured. In this case, there would also be a portion of the strap that would not engage anything and would therefore be free to flop around. In the extreme case, the hook portion of the fastener would end up trying to engage itself instead of the loop portion, providing virtually no force to secure the shoes. Hook and loop fasteners also collect a great deal of lint, etc. in the hooks and generally begin to look ragged within a relatively short period of time.
There are also shoes, especially hiking boots, with speed lacers or hooks around which the laces are placed. These allow for faster and more even lacing. The daily tying process, however, requires added steps and even more dexterity than standard laces. The hooks are also prone to catching on things as you walk or hike.
Another attempt to solve this problem is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,181,331; 5,177,882; and 5,117,567 to Berger. These discuss a shoe with built in channels through which a shoelace is thread. Located on the top of the instep shield is a tightening element. No discussion is made in the patents as to how this device works or how it is adjusted. For this discussion it has been assumed that there is a spool around which the lace is wound, and there is some sort of latch which locks the device from rotation after the proper tightness has been achieved. This would require the user to rotate the tightening element, then lock it in place while maintaining the current rotation. Neither this solution, nor the hook and loop fasteners, nor the speed lacers can be used with shoes that have already been purchased, new shoes must be purchased with these devices already installed.
Another attempted solution to the problem are shoelaces with a semi-rigid core. The laces are bent and tend to stay in the position they are placed in, therefore allowing the user to interlock the laces. This is certainly useful for teaching a child to tie his or her shoelaces by allowing them time to think about the next step, but this method does not work any more quickly than the standard shoelaces, in fact it would take longer. Also, although, you may not need to be as adept to tie the laces, the ultimate amount of manipulation is the same or more.
A different related problem with many solutions is the problem of shoes coming untied. There are many devices for locking the knot in place, such as clamps which are engaged after the user has tied the laces. These all still require the user to first tie the laces before the device is put into use, thereby not solving the problem which is currently at issue.
None of the prior art devices provide any systematic way to lock and unlock one's shoes. Each time the shoes are worn, care must be exercised to properly tighten the shoelaces and secure the shoe to the foot. All the prior art methods also require the user to perform significant manipulations near the foot, whether it be twisting and locking a knob or actual tying of laces.